This week is dedicated to five moms who blog that I am loving these women are wonderful to connect with about becoming a new parent and are inspirational.
Making Good Choices | Nicole is at the hospital right now awaiting the arrival of her first child and it is so exciting. Update Nicole is now the mom of Olivia! I am wishing her the best of luck! I have loved following her pregnancy journey and talking about babies with her. She has been such an inspiration running and staying active her entire pregnancy. You can check our her guest post about running while pregnant here.
Healthy Heddleston | Katie is the mom to the 7-month old cutie Xander. She is gearing up to run the Army 10-miler this weekend and has been an inspiring me to get back to running. She is also really amazing and was able to donate 1,019 ounces of breast milk (amazing right) to WakeMed Mother’s Milk Bank which will help so many families in need.
Kath Eats Real Food|Kath mom to Mazen has real been wonderful to follow because I can relate to so many things. It is wonderful to read her daily posts because E and M are so close in age and many of the posts discuss products that interest me as a mom or similar challenges that I have faced or are facing.
Chasing Hallie | Hallie is mom to Molly and I first came across her blog when I was googling other parents dealing with a colicky baby. I felt a sigh of relief when I read her posts “We Survived Colic One Bounce At A Time“. At the time we were going through the exact same thing and it was so reassuring to read about another mom who had already faced the same situation.
Run Pretty | Presley is mom to Maddux who is only 11 days older than E. Since they are so close in age it has been wonderful reading similar posts and Presley has also been an inspiration to get back to running especially considering she is a busy mom, teacher and wife. She also write the most entertaining posts and is wonderful to chat back and forth with at 2 in the morning on twitter.
Hi! I’m Nicole from Making Good Choices and I’m so happy to be here with you while Lindsay spends time with her little one. I’m a small business owner and health counselor (like Lindsay) so I spend my days working at Pure Bliss Eats (www.pureblisseats.com) and helping people live a healthier life. You can read more about my business here.
I am (as of when I wrote this) 25 weeks pregnant. I’ve enjoyed following along with Lindsay’s pregnancy and keeping track of her experience. It’s so much fun finding pregnant bloggers, especially since I don’t have too many IRL friends who have babies/have been pregnant.
Ever since I got pregnant I have been running anywhere from 9- 15 miles a week. Generally I run about 12. When I found out I was pregnant, I wasn’t sure about a lot of things, but running wasn’t one of them. I just figured I’d keep running until I couldn’t anymore. So far, so good.
Now, let me tell you some days are WAY harder than others. Some days it takes my body 2 miles just to warm up and feel normal running. Those are the days where I stop and start and take lots of walking breaks. I try hard to just be super happy I’m running instead of discouraged I need to stop and start so much. 99% of the time I’m in a positive mindset. 1% of the time I need to get over myself and keep going.
I have been running for years. Sometimes longer distances, sometimes shorter. Before I got pregnant I was running up to 6 miles at a time. I was physically fit before getting pregnant, which is why I kept up exercising and running.
I wanted to share some tips that have worked for me over the past 6 months to keep me happy while running.
Getting out and exercising: In the first tri when I felt awful I would get up to workout and it was the only thing that made me feel better. I took it easy most days, but just getting the heart pumping and blood flowing really helped. If I ever had felt worse I would have stopped.
When I was in the first tri, I would do run/walk intervals. I think in weeks 7-8 I ran 5-7 minutes and walked a couple of minutes and repeated that. Eventually I got back into the groove and now walk 1-2x per run.(Which probably will go back to being 3-4x in the third trimester.)
Allow yourself to walk whenever you want. As long as I’m getting out there, I could walk 1 time or 4, I don’t really care.
Don’t worry about pace. Some people (like Michele) are still super fast. Before getting pregnant I ran about 9:30-10 minute miles when I was just out for a typical run. Now I’m running between 11-12 minute miles and celebrating every one.
Hydrate and go to the bathroom about 10 times before you run. Or better yet, go running FIRST thing when you wake up. I’ve found that if I just wake up and go I am MUCH happier and don’t feel like I have to go to the bathroom ½ mile in. I try to make sure I’m drinking enough water, but I don’t want to drink too much before I run because then I’ll have to go to the bathroom 5 minutes in.
Carry a cell phone and water if you think you’ll need it. I ALWAYS carry my cell phone while running. You never know if you just can’t finish the run, or if you need to picked up.
Listen to your body. If you feel pain or are very uncomfortable, stop.
Whatever you thought about running before, throw it out the window. It’s important to be FLEXIBLE and to do what you’re body needs. If you need to stop and start or take a break do it. The important part is that you are getting out there and moving.
Don’t give up! I’ve had many runs where the first 20 minutes are awful, but the last 20 are amazing and I’m on top of the world. I can usually tell if it’s a head game or if I’m just off that day. Push through and keep going! (Unless something is really wrong, then obviously, stop!)
Have fun! This isn’t a time to be super serious about your running. Enjoy the fact you are running!
Note: I spoke to my doctor about the fact that I run and he said that as long as I was doing it before, I was fine to continue. Speak to your doctor before you do anything!
Thank you for letting me share my running while pregnant experience with you! I hope you’ll visit my blog as I talk about food, fitness, health and being pregnant!
This week is dedicated to five moms who blog that I am loving these women are wonderful to connect with about becoming a new parent and are inspirational.
Hi! I’m Nicole from 
